


Summer Romance

by Osaka_Prince_Yuta



Series: NCT One Shots [6]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Bartender Ten, Beach Trip, Bittersweet Ending, Fluff, Haechan is Marks cousin, Lifeguard Lucas, Lucas is Dense, M/M, Mark is dense, Near character death, Taeyong is lonely, bartender yuta, for everyone, johnny is rich, mark and taeyong are brothers, sweet summer love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:20:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osaka_Prince_Yuta/pseuds/Osaka_Prince_Yuta
Summary: All Mark wanted was a peaceful summer staying in a beach house with his brother and cousin. Right from the start, nothing is as he expected.Now, Mark spends his summer down the hall from the beach lifeguard, that he incidentally has the biggest crush on. Unfortunately, both are too shy or too stubborn to confess their feelings and all hope seems lost. It take an accident to bring them together, but it may not be enough.
Relationships: Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul | Ten/Suh Youngho | Johnny, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Liu Yang Yang, Lee Taeyong/Nakamoto Yuta, Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Series: NCT One Shots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1565092
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	Summer Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Not beta read

It was fascinating how quickly time seemed to move. Slow in the moment, but each fleeting second soared by, like a slow moving train that moves at such a pace that one can focus on one car that will disappear forever after a few blinks. 

“Are you listening to me?” Taeyong’s voice brought Mark back to the present time as the car stopped at a stoplight. 

“What?” Mark asked. 

The answer to Taeyong’s question was an obvious no. One that was so obvious, even Donghyuck, who’d spent the entire ride blaring too loud music into his ears, even cackled slightly. 

Taeyong sighed from his place in the driver's seat and pressed down on the accelerator as the light turned green. 

“I said, you need to make sure you and Hyuck don’t trash grandma’s house. There’s only so much cleaning I’m going to do. And you need to make sure you keep sunscreen on those shoulders! You always forget! Also, don’t think for a second that-”

“Yong, if you are just going to nag, I’m going back to daydreaming,” Mark replied, cutting off his elder brother. 

He rested his head back against the car window, taking in the sight of the passing palm trees. A smile cracked onto his face and he pressed the button to lower his window just enough so that the fresh, salty breeze could fill the stuffy car. He let out a soft sigh. 

“I know I nag a lot, but you’re more forgetful than Hyuck and myself,” Taeyong sighed, turning the car onto the next road. 

Mark was about to respond when a groan from the backseat brought his attention to his younger cousin. 

“Are we there yet?” the boy whined. 

Taeyong’s mouth etched into a crooked frown that Mark knew was the result of the amount of stress currently on his shoulders. 

“We’ll get there soon, Duckie,” Mark replied, looking back at the slightly younger boy he’d grown up with. 

The car moved again and Mark turned back around to watch Taeyong pull into the driveway of a rather large house. Mark’s mouth gaped open. The house was at least three stories tall, had a double garage, a gigantic front yard, and Taeyong’s best friend standing in the grass waving his arms like a madman with a huge grin on his face. 

Mark could already tell, this would be a summer they wouldn’t soon forget. 

Taeyong parked the car in front of one of the garage doors and Johnny raced to the car as the trio were getting out. 

“You’re all finally here!” he cheered, pulling Taeyong into a large hug before moving on to hug the youngers while Taeyong opened the back of the small SUV to get their luggage out. 

After a friendly reunion, the four reached in the back to grab a handful of bags from the nearly filled car. 

“Geez! I told you guys we had a washing machine inside, you didn’t have to bring your entire wardrobes,” Johnny joked, staring at the three bags currently in his hands, all of which were Taeyong’s. 

“Hyung couldn’t decide what to pack, so he packed everything,” Donghyuck poked back at the male while Taeyong just blushed lightly. 

“I think he’s hoping for a tropical romance!” Mark chimed in. 

The three burst out in a round of giggles while Taeyong blushed moodily, although he made no move to indicate that this was anything but true. 

~

Johnny led the way up the steep stairs that led into the front door of the large house, carrying the bags with ease while the other three stumbled over their load and groaned at the extreme exercise after such a long car ride. 

“Oh! I might have forgotten to mention that we’re not alone! My boyfriend, his little cousin, and best friend are all staying here too!” Johnny quipped right before opening the door. 

Taeyong stood speechless and Mark and Donghyuck shared a shy look. None of them were expecting other guests, especially ones they weren’t familiar with, but they couldn’t say too much. It was Johnny’s house and they weren’t paying a dime for the entire summer, after all.

Out of the three of them, Donghyuck was the bravest, so after sucking in his shy exterior and replacing it with his trademark mischievous grin, he bounded into the house after Johnny, bellowing his displeasure about the situation. At least he was, until he bulldozed straight into a male about his own age, sending them both toppling to the floor, bags strewn around them. 

“Hey! Watch where you’re going!” the boy snapped beneath Donghyuck. 

Mark shook his head and stepped through the door. 

“And they all call me the clumsy one,” he mumbled under his breath as he dropped his bags onto the floor and let his gaze wander around the house. 

The ceiling was huge! A large ceiling fan hanging on a chain above a living room stocked full of tropical style couches. There was a hallway to his left that he suspected led to the kitchen and wherever else while a large staircase occupied his right. A staircase that seemed to go on forever. The walls were a soft honey that stood boldly against the tropical wall decor scattered in various places along the walls. 

“Duckie, if you’re done molesting YangYang, I’ll show you your rooms,” Johnny shot, walking back into the room with his arm around a much smaller man. 

It was a man Mark had seen in many of Johnny’s Instagram posts. 

Donghyuck shot up off the male, face as red as a tomato. 

“I wasn’t- I didn’t-” he stammered, but in the end, hung his head and grabbed his things off the floor, although the male, now called YangYang, beat him to the largest bag, picking it up and following Johnny silently up the stairs.

“Two minutes in and Hyuck’s already got a tropical romance,” Taeyong grumbled to Mark as the two followed at the rear. 

Either Donghyuck didn’t hear, or was too busy staring at the back of YangYang’s head to pay much attention, but Mark shook his head with a little laugh.

~

Mark’s original assessment of the house was correct. There were three stories. One for the living room, kitchen, and the main bathroom. The other two stories for bedrooms and linen closets. They were also introduced formally to Johnny’s boyfriend, Chittaphon, although Ten was his preferred name, which Mark deemed amazingly cool. 

Donghyuck was the first to choose a room. The third one they’d come to screamed his name in a way not many things did. It had peach colored walls with a full sized bed in the center of one wall, a large bay window that took up most of the next wall. There were ocean hues around the room, from the aquarium-plaited bedspread to the carved driftwood along the walls. 

The next room was unmistakably Taeyong’s, and Mark knew it from the moment he’d walked in. A fairy pink coated the walls lined with two grand burrows and a massive wardrobe. This was one of the only rooms with a balcony, which also suited Taeyong’s tastes beautifully. The bed was a neatly made queen with a starfish adorned bedspread that the elder obviously adored. 

Mark’s room ended up being on the third floor, something he hadn’t been planning on, but something that he quite liked. Being on the top floor was something he’d always been drawn to. He’d even requested his dorm room at the university he attended to be on the top. There was just something about it that felt right. When he’d walked into the room he’d claimed as his own, he’d been almost swept away by the sight. The walls were a faint blue adorned with carved anchors and surf boards. Small aquatic trinkets lay out on the burrow and the full-size bed was covered in a ship themed bedspread. He didn’t have a balcony or a bay window. Instead, he had a tall window that stretched almost from floor to ceiling that gave him a beautiful view of the backyard pool and lounge area. 

He pulled all three of his bags into the room and began unpacking. He didn’t see much point in it. They’d only be here for a couple of months. Or more directly, the summer. He thought he’d much rather leave his clothes in his bags rather than back and forth between burrow and bags, but Taeyong would have his head if he dared. 

Thus, he began pulling the balls of clothing from his bag and tossing them up into random drawers of the burrow, not paying much attention where he’d put what as he went. 

In the middle of his unpacking, there came a knock on the door. Had it been Donghyuck, Taeyong, or Johnny even, they would have burst right in without another thought. This had to be someone new. 

“Come in,” Mark called, staring at the door expectantly. 

The door flew open so hard it smacked into the side wall, making Mark flinch at the strength behind it. 

In the doorway stood a man, easily as tall as Johnny if not a little taller and broader, built like a football player. His arms were massive. He looked like a brute body builder, with the exception of his soft brown hair that fluffed up on his head and the most adorable grin that Mark had ever seen.

“Johnny asked me to tell you that dinner’s rea-” the man stopped, attention turning to what was in Mark’s hand. 

Instinctively, Mark turned his attention to the clothing in his hand and was utterly mortified when he found himself holding a pair of white boxers with tiny imprinted mooseheads on them. The boxers his grandmother had sent him from Canada as a Christman present. 

His cheeks flamed red as the male began to laugh hysterically. Mark balled the boxers into a ball and chucked them as far across the room as he could get them, but the damage was already done. Now, the muscular cute hot guy was going to think he was a total dweeb.

The man Johnny had his arm around stepped into the doorway, confusion etched into his brow. 

“Teasing our new house guests, Lucas? You know that isn’t nice,” Ten scolded, although a playful smile grew on his own lips. 

Mark wanted to crawl under the bed and die. 

“You should have seen it, Tennie! His boxers were so cute!” the taller man, now dubbed Lucas apparently, stated. 

Ten’s smile faded lightly as Johnny appeared behind them both. Before Mark knew what had happened, the man's large hand came in contact with the back of Lucas’ head. 

“What are you looking at my best friend’s boxers for?” Johnny snapped, although Mark could tell he wasn’t entirely serious. 

Lucas just laughed and shrugged. 

“He was holding them when I walked in! They were just too cute to ignore!” Lucas cooed. 

Mark’s cheeks grew hotter, if that was even possible. He glanced up in time to see Johnny roll his eyes and push Lucas from the room. 

“Come on, Markie, don’t mind him. He’s just a big nutthead. Come on, dinner’s ready,” Johnny cooed before wrapping his arm around Ten’s waist and venturing back toward the stairs. 

As much as Mark didn’t want to show his face downstairs, particularly not if the giant was going to be there, his stomach growled at the sound of food. Taeyong didn’t like the youngers having too many snacks on long roadtrips. Particularly when one of them, Donghyuck, was prone to car sickness. Thus, he hadn’t eaten much since lunch six hours ago. 

He pulled himself up off the floor and headed for his still open door, but before closing said door, he shot a dirty glare to the balled up pile of moosehead boxers laying in the floor by the window, almost daring them to still be there when Mark returned. 

~

Dinner had been an interesting feat, although everyone quickly learned that the one doing most of the cooking from then on would be Taeyong. Ten was decent enough. The food was edible, but everyone quickly realized that Ten had no sense of seasoning or sense of how long to cook things. The spaghetti noodles were unsalted and horrifically undercooked. Almost as if they’d been thrown in a bowl of water for two minutes before being served. The meat sauce was a tad overcooked, particularly the meat, that gave the faintest charcoal flavor to the tongue. And then there was the garlic bread that had been so horribly overcooked, Taeyong had attempted to rescue the bottoms with a butterknife, scraping away at the blacked bottoms, but no matter how much of the black he removed, nothing could have saved the rolls from being dreadfully dry. 

It was after dinner, however, that the bitter evening began to turn around when YangYang suggested a walk on the beach as the sun set along the water. Everyone had quickly agreed to the idea and left to change into something more comfortable, but Mark stayed, already in his favorite shorts. 

“You’re not going to change?” Lucas’ voice rumbled from behind, causing Mark to jump at the unexpected noise. 

“I don’t need to. What about you?” Mark replied. 

He turned to look at the male and almost instantly regretted it as red seeped up his neck. 

“You sure do blush a lot,” the shirtless man said, taking a seat beside Mark with a cola in his hand. 

Despite Mark’s best efforts, he couldn’t look away. Lucas was sculpted so beautifully. Almost as though he’d been created as a sculpture's greatest creation. 

“Like what you see?” Lucas smirked.

Mark tore his gaze from the male’s body, but didn’t bother uttering an explanation. What was done was done. He just hoped the male would leave it be. 

“It’s ok that you do. I know I look good.”

Mark sighed. Lucas was just like every other extremely hot guy. Hot, adorably handsome, and a total douchebag too full of himself to see anyone else. 

“Mm,” he hummed, standing up from his seat and moving toward the door. 

Despite guessing the kind of person Lucas was, he couldn’t stop himself from already harboring feelings of attraction for the male, which meant he’d need to put the distance of Jupiter and Mars between them. 

“Come on, I was only joking,” Lucas urged, getting up and moving closer to Mark. 

Mark refused to fall for this game. 

He moved further away from the male, only for Lucas to follow until eventually, the others were changed. Mark stepped in front of Johnny, keeping a barrier between himself and Lucas.

“Uh… did something happen?” Taeyong asked, glancing between the shirtless male and Mark. 

Lucas opened his mouth to speak, but if Taeyong knew that Mark was avoiding Lucas like the plague now, he’d force Johnny to make the two move into the same room until their issues would resolve. The pacifist likely didn’t understand that that would only make things worse. 

“It’s nothing,” Mark answered quickly before moving from the door and marching matter-of-factly down the road in a random direction. 

“Hey Wise Guy! Where ya going? The beach is this way,” Johnny’s voice called. 

Mark sighed and turned around, only to be faced with the view of the sandy shore that he should have seen, had he not been too busy being angry at Lucas’ self-absorbed self. 

“Are you ok?” Donghyuck asked, sliding up beside Mark as the group moved in the correct direction. 

Donghyuck was Mark’s cousin. The two had practically grown up in each other's homes with as much time as they’d spent together. This was not even close to their first vacation together. They were even students attending the same school, although they weren’t roommates, but down the hall from one another. They always did everything together, although Mark didn’t like Donghyuck sometimes. The younger could be evil and a bit of a prankster. But he would always be Mark’s very best friend and the only person who would ever know Mark’s weariness of pretty people like the ones that had tortured him in primary and secondary school. 

“Lucas is a hot, self-absorbed bonehead,” Mark whined. 

Donghyuck stared at him for a moment. 

“Are you sure you aren’t letting your past cloud your judgment? You’ve only known him for like an hour,” the younger pointed out. 

It was a reasonable statement, but it was exactly the opposite of what Mark wanted to hear. 

“He said it himself! “I know I look good!”” Mark quoted, his voice dipping in venom. 

Donghyuck shook his head. 

“Liking how you look isn’t a crime. I like how I look? Does that mean I’m self-absorbed?” he asked, extending his arms exaggeratedly. 

Mark stared at the male. When had he accepted himself for the adorable chubbiness everyone always told him he had? The same chubbiness that he’d tried so hard to get rid of while everyone, including all his old high school boyfriends, begged him not to do. 

“Well no-”

“Exactly. So don’t judge him just because he said one thing you deemed wrong!” Donghyuck stated firmly. 

Mark raised an eyebrow at the male.

“You’ve been spending too much time with Taeyong-hyung,” he quipped. 

Donghyuck rolled his eyes and shoved Mark lightly, a grin growing on his face. Mark quickly grew a matching one. 

“Beat you to the ocean!” Donghyuck yelled, taking off running toward the sand before Mark could comprehend what he’d said. 

When he did, his legs immediately kicked into action. 

“Cheater!” he called, legs digging into the sidewalk as he ran. 

“I wanna play!” he vaguely heard a somewhat familiar voice behind him as he ran before two more sets of legs were gaining on him. 

He glanced to both sides. YangYang sped on his left, faster than Mark would have given him credit for, and Lucas on the right, long legs giving him a seemingly unfair advantage that gravity quickly made up for when it forced Lucas’ foot to stumble on a stray piece of driftwood, sending him tumbling down into the sand. 

Mark couldn’t stand for anyone to be hurt. A trait he shared with Taeyong. So when Lucas let out a pained cry, Mark stopped in his tracks and swerved back to the male as the elders ran to them. 

“Where are you hurt?!” Mark asked as he dropped onto the sand beside the male. 

Lucas looked up, eyes brimming with tears as he rolled over onto his butt, propping his leg up to show the sand skint knee. 

Mark hissed. This was always one of the worst kinds of pain to him. Right there where all the nerves were on the delicate skin. 

“Do you think you can walk on it to the water? Salt water is the best antibacterial cure for these kinds of injuries,” Mark spoke, although it was Taeyongs words he was using. 

A tear dropped from Lucas’ eye and Mark’s heart melted. So a guy that knows he’s hot, is also someone that cries over a skint knee. Perhaps Donghyuck was right. Maybe the male wasn’t so bad. 

With a nod, Lucas moved himself up off the earth and took hold of Mark’s hand, possibly for stability, or possibly for moral support.

Together, the two made their way to the water gently licking the moist sand. The same water than Donghyuck and YangYang were already hip deep in. 

Mark led Lucas into the water, not stopping long enough to adjust his skin to the icy water that pricked his calves, but he paid no attention as he led Lucas deeper until he was thigh deep and Lucas’ knees were finally submerged.

~

That was the first night of Mark realizing he was so terribly wrong with his first assessment of Lucas. The first night on vacation, and he had already managed to horribly misjudge someone, beg for forgiveness, and gain a new friend that was very obviously working towards more. Although Mark wouldn’t complain. 

The night Mark had dragged Lucas into the ocean, Lucas had screamed at the burning pain and Mark had felt bad, all up until the moment Lucas’ screams began seeming more comical than anything and he found his legs swept out from under him by the tall man, who later prompted to throw him into the water. 

After that night, things had changed for the better. Lucas and Mark became nearly as inseparable as Mark and Donghyuck usually were, although Donghyuck too had found someone to lay all over.

“So, I’m the one wanting a summer romance and my little brother and cousins are the ones that get it?” Taeyong whined one day as the group of boys laid out on towels or beach chairs. 

“How do you think I feel? I come down to enjoy a summer with my boyfriend, only to find out that he’s gotten himself a summer job,” Johnny groaned in response. 

Mark rolled his eyes and turned back to the magazine in his hand. 

“The only two lucky in this situation is thing one and thing two,” Mark responded, shooting a glare to YangYang and Donghyuck who were both out in the water splashing each other and laughing, under the watchful eyes of the beefy lifeguard sending brief text messages. 

Mark’s phone dinged again and Taeyong groaned. 

“Your boyfriend is supposed to be watching kids! Not texting you!” he scolded. 

Mark rolled his eyes again at the jealousy and opened his phone, sending a quick message back before pulling himself up off his beach blanket. 

“Come on hyung, let’s go get some drinks! I’ve been dying to try one of those islander drinks from the exotic bar!” Mark offered. 

Taeyong grunted but got up off his chair. 

“Want anything, Johnny?” he asked, turning to the taller, sulking man. 

“Stuff Tennie in a bag and bring him to me?” he asked. 

Mark snorted and grabbed his wallet out of the beach bag Taeyong always insisted on bringing with them. The same bag that two weeks into their trip, was already starting to fall apart. 

“You know Hyuck will be mad if you get a drink and he doesn’t,” Taeyong spoke, catching up with Mark. 

Mark shrugged his shoulders. 

“If he wanted a drink, he could drag his butt out of the ocean to get a drink,” Mark responded bitterly. 

Taeyong raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re that upset Lucas has a job?”

Mark didn’t respond as they approached the bar on the beach. The bar was an open area with three fans blowing toward the counters to keep the workers and customers cool from the raging sun. It was covered in a straw designed room and had a few chairs and tables for customers to sit and enjoy their drinks or food.The color was a vibrant pink that almost seemed not to belong in a bar, but it somehow fit in perfectly with the white Japanese lilies that decorated the back wall, painted as a mural. 

Mark walked up to the counter, Taeyong close behind, sunglasses covered eyes scanning the menu as Mark boredly waited for someone to take their order. The bar was busy, so it wasn’t a surprise they had to wait for more than a few minutes. 

“Sorry about the wait. What can I get you guys?” An accented voice tore through Mark’s thoughts, bringing him back to stare at a princely looking man with long blonde hair that brushed his shoulders and a filled face with just the right amount of sharpness. 

The man really did look like a prince with an edge. 

“I’ll take a hard mango smoothie and he’ll have-” Mark paused to turn to question Taeyong, only to find his brother not listening or looking at him. 

Taeyong’s eyes, instead, were glued to the face of the bartender, who seemed just about as interested in Taeyong. Mark sighed. Maybe Taeyong would get his tropical romance after all, but it came at a price of satiating his own drinking needs. 

“Um… excuse me?” he asked, but he was ignored. 

“What would the pretty guy like?” the handsome bartender asked, eyes never leaving Taeyong’s. 

“Something sweet,” Taeyong responded, voice coming out soft, almost as though he were high. 

“Nothing could be sweeter than you,” the bartender replied. 

Mark groaned inwardly. Sure, he wanted his brother to be happy, but this was disgusting. 

“Yuta! We’re filling up quickly! What’s taking you so-” Ten came around the corner, pencil tucked behind his ear, notepad in his hand, a frazzled expression on his face. 

When he saw the dumbstruck couple, he rolled his eyes and smacked his hand to his forehead.

“Of all the times to fall in love,” he grumbled.

He moved around the male and over to Mark. 

“I’ll give you a free drink if you make Taeyong go away so my boss can get back to work,” he spoke, leaning over the counter and giving Mark a pleading look. 

Mark, in turn, happily accepted the offer and reiterated his drink order to Ten before grabbing Taeyong by the shoulder. He pulled on his arm but found the male almost as stiff as a block of wood. 

He grumbled and Ten reappeared with his drink, putting it on the counter before jotting something down on his notepad and slapping it in front of Mark’s drink. 

“This is Yuta’s number. He’s free at 5,” he grumbled. 

The bar was filling up quickly with people and Mark knew Ten was likely getting more stressed. More stress on Ten meant Mark would have to listen to Johnny complaining all evening when Ten came home and claimed to be too tired to do anything but sleep. So he did the only thing a guy in his position could do. 

He grabbed Taeyong around the waist and hoisted the boy up off the ground, holding his feet a few inches above the sand as he carried the tall male across the beach before depositing him down onto his beach chair. 

“What happened to him?” Johnny asked, surprised, lifting his sunglasses to stare at Taeyong’s still stupefied expression. 

“He’s fallen in love with the bartender,” Mark answered, taking a sip of his smoothie as Lucas looked over the Lifeguard tower and waved down to Mark. 

~

The relationship between Yuta and Taeyong advanced quickly. Before long, Yuta was over constantly. 

It didn’t bother Mark too much. He didn’t mind the couples around him while Lucas hadn’t even asked him on a date in the three weeks they’d been flirting. He didn’t mind watching Yuta and Taeyong sneak sweet kisses under the moonlight when they thought no one was watching. He had no problem with watching YangYang timidly grasp at Donghyuck’s fingers as they walked down the beach together. He didn’t even mind watching Ten curl up into Johnny’s side as they all sat down to watch a movie together. All of it was no big deal. Mark was fine. He didn’t care.

At least, that’s what he told himself as he stared enviously after Donghyuck and YangYang as they walked back to their blankets and beach chairs holding hands. 

“Just tell him how you feel. Lucas is a bit dense sometimes. He hasn’t asked you out because he doesn’t know if you like him,” Ten whispered in Mark’s ear as he leaned over against his shoulder. 

Mark shook his head and shrugged Ten off. The smaller recoiled back into Johnny’s side. 

“I’ve been making it obvious that I like him. If he doesn’t ask me out, then maybe he really doesn’t like me,” Mark spoke, almost dejectedly as he let his palm wander into the warm sand below his blanket.

Ten sighed but didn’t say anything else on the subject as he rested his head on Johnny’s shoulder. It was one of his days off, which meant Taeyong was sulking on a lounge chair beside Mark, eyes constantly glued to the clock, counting down the seconds for Yuta to close down the bar and take him out for some fancy dinner Taeyong had announced to them the night before. Mark’s eyes drifted up to the lifeguard tower to see the beefy male in his red trunks and white lifeguard shirt, scanning the crowd of people in the water. Mark hadn’t seen him in action yet. Surprisingly, everyone was being relatively safe and the male hadn’t jumped in to rescue someone in the many weeks they’d been sitting on the beach. Mark almost felt dejected that he couldn’t watch his… friend in action. Although he pushed the almost wishful thought from his mind. In order for Lucas to save someone, someone had to be in peril. Although maybe that wouldn’t be too bad with Lucas as the lifeguard. 

“Watch this! I can find a bigger shell!” Mark heard Donghyuck call before the younger was splashing through the water. 

Mark didn’t need to ask what he was doing when he glanced over to see YangYang holding a medium sized conkshell. Conkshell fishing was something Mark and Donghyuck had grown up doing anytime they were lucky enough to get a short period at the beach. They’d spend all day in the ocean, wading out as far as their parents allowed them to go before feeling the rough edges of the shell with their feet and diving under to retrieve it. 

“Be careful Hyuck!” Mark called out. 

He watched Donghyuck wade out until the water reached the tops of his thighs, but of course, that was with the tide out. A new wave crashed against him, knocking him back a little, but the bright grin on his face told Mark all he needed to know. The younger had done this many times before. Mark didn’t need to worry. But that didn’t mean he let the male stray completely from his eyesight. 

He glanced back up at Lucas, who was strangely already looking at him. He shot Mark a wink, that had Mark looking down. 

“Oh my God! Just ask him out!” Ten yelled suddenly, making Mark’s cheeks flare a bright red. 

“I can’t,” he muttered in response and moved his eyes to look back at Donghyuck because it was easier than dealing with his teasing friend. 

He watched Donghyuck smirk back at YangYang before diving under the water just as a new wave crashed over him, carrying a red and brown surf board that someone must have lost in the tides. 

“Anyone can tell that he likes you!” Johnny added in. 

Mark shook his head and waited for Donghyuck to resurface, not sparing the two a glance. 

“Yes! I know he does! But we have to leave at the end of the summer and he hasn’t asked me out yet, which means he doesn’t want to because it’ll all just end!”

He heard a grunt from Taeyong, who was too busy looking at his phone to give more of an input. 

“Someone like Lucas doesn’t think that deeply. He’s dense! He probably doesn’t know you like him and he’s afraid of getting rejected!” Ten urged. 

Mark thought it was strange that Donghyuck hadn’t surfaced yet, but he chopped it up to the male attempting to wretch the shell out of the sand. They got stuck a little too deep sometimes. 

“If he likes me, he can ask me himself! I’m not asking him out,” Mark snapped. 

It shouldn’t really be taking Donghyuck this long. Maybe it was buried, but the male should have come up for air by now, and Mark hadn’t taken his eyes off the spot. 

“Hyuck?” he asked, concern dripping in his voice as he slowly stood up, eyes wide and searching, praying the boy had come up somewhere further off down the shore. 

He glanced over to YangYang who appeared to be a moment away from a panic attack. 

“HYUCKIE!” he yelled toward the water. 

Mark’s blood ran cold. His best friend. His Donghyuck. His sweet little cousin. 

“DONGHYUCK!” Mark screamed, preparing to run into the water to save the male as the lifeguard whistle blue and Lucas was jumping down from the tower and running into the ocean. 

By the time he’d dived under, Ten had gathered YangYang up in his arms and was practicing the art of breathing as Mark was unable to tear his eyes away from the scene. If he hadn’t have been talking about himself, he would have noticed that something strange was going on and he could have dived in. 

“Please be ok,” Mark heard Taeyong mumble as he wrapped an arm around Mark’s middle, pulling him back into his chest, comfortingly. 

Time seemed to stand still as they all stood silently, waiting for Donghyuck’s head or Lucas’ head to shoot up from the water. Nothing happened for so long. A crowd began to form and someone yelled that an ambulance was on the way. Mark’s heart pounded harshly against his chest. 

When Lucas broke through the water, Mark had almost formed a relieved grin. Until Donghyuck appeared in Lucas’ arms, head and longs hanging over his arms, completely limp. He wasn’t conscious and likely wasn’t breathing. 

Lucas didn’t spare anyone a glance as he made his way onto the sand and dropped Donghyuck onto sand. Their small group gathered around with bated breath as Lucas linked his hands and pressed the ball of his hand into Donghyuck’s chest, muttering a count under his breath. When he got to sixty, he stopped, pinching off Donghyuck’s nose and pulling his mouth open before putting his own lips over Donghyuck’s. Mark saw his chest rise as Lucas breathed into him before starting compressions again. When he reached sixty, the process started over. Mark was beginning to think there was no saving Donghyuck and tears had begun to fall until a strangled cough left Donghyuck’s self-moving lips and water came rushing out. Lucas turned the males head to the side to help him choke out more of the water. 

“Hyuckie…” 

Mark’s voice was heavy. He had almost given up hope that he was gone. That he’d never get to speak to his best friend again. But instead, this sexy, adorable, amazing lifeguard, that he just happened to sleep down the hall from him, saved his best friend’s life. 

Mark threw caution to the wind. This winded lifeguard had stopped everything to jump in the water and save Donghyuck. Sure, that was his job, but it was so much deeper than that, and they both knew it. 

“Thank you,” Mark spoke as he blindly approached the lifeguard now sitting in the sand. 

He moved closer, mind only focused on one thing. Lucas seemed a bit puzzled as he was approached, but that did nothing to deter Mark. As he reached Lucas, he grabbed the larger’s chin, lifting his face before closing the space between them as he connected their lips. 

It took Lucas a moment to respond to the kiss. A moment in which Mark almost became discouraged. But then Lucas’ arms wrapped themselves around his waist and his lips moved so perfectly against Mark’s it felt like tiny sparks tickled against his lips and shot down his spine in the most amazing way. 

Mark was sure he heard people talking around him, but he couldn’t comprehend what they were saying or even who they were, too caught in the moment to know anything besides Lucas. A moment that eventually ended when the lips parted and Mark breathlessly pressed his forehead to Lucas’.

“Go on a date with me,” Lucas breathed. 

Mark smiled softly at the words, his heard thudding gently against his chest. 

“About damn time,” Johnny cursed. 

“Took them long enough,” Ten agreed. 

“They’re adorable!” Taeyong cooed. 

“Yes,” Mark whispered in response, moving closer to capture Lucas’ lips again. 

“Um.... I almost DROWNED and all anyone is thinking about is Mark kissing Lucas?” Donghyuck whined. 

~

Summer went on as Mark had hoped it would. Days spend watching Lucas in the lifeguard tower, nights spent wandering the town hand in hand, evenings spent cuddled up by the pool, sipping fruity drinks and dreaming about a life they’d get to spend. 

The summer flew by faster than either of them could comprehend, and before Mark realized what had happened, he was loading his bags in the back of Taeyong’s SUV, face turned down in a solemn frown as Lucas pushed his heavier bag in. 

“I can’t believe I have to go,” he mumbled, closing his eyes as Lucas shut the back door of the car. 

He felt arms wrap around his waist as Lucas pulled him to his chest. 

“We’ll see each other again. I’ll fly down and stay with you one week and then you can come visit me sometime! We’ll video chat every night!” Lucas replied, voice filled with cheer, although Mark could tell it was for his own benefit. 

“But I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep on your shoulder anymore,” he sighed, lips curving deeper into a saddened frown. 

His chest ached. He’d fallen in love with Lucas, although he hadn’t had the guts to tell the muscular male yet, fearing his feelings might come off as too rushed. They’d only been together for a couple of months, after all. 

“Hey, it’ll be ok. We have to be apart for a while, but the sooner we’re apart, the sooner we’re back together again,” Lucas spoke, turning Mark around and giving him a soft smile. 

It was a smile that made Mark’s heart immediately lurch in his chest, his eyes filling with tears. It would be so long without those sweet puppy eyes. 

He flung himself forward and wrapped his arms tightly around Lucas’ torso. 

“I love you,” he whispered, right before pressing his lips to Lucas’.

“I love you too,” Lucas responded as he broke the kiss, pulling Mark into a stronger embrace, his own tears hitting against Mark’s shoulders.

~

The words echoed in his ears as the car backed out of the driveway, the three passengers waving to the three men standing in front of the garage, all with tear-filled eyes as they watched their perfect summer drift away.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think!


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